


Evolving

by raven_aorla



Series: drinking (with) friends [2]
Category: Buzzfeed The Try Guys (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood Drinking, Blood Loss, Chronic Illness, Chronic Pain, Cuddling, Earthquakes, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Queerplatonic Relationships, Trapped, Trauma, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 09:51:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17999567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raven_aorla/pseuds/raven_aorla
Summary: Eugene paused. “It’s, uh, it’s kind of like a vampiric Pokemon evolution. To get strong enough to get through this rubble keeping us trapped here, I’d have to take so much more human blood at once and, like, evolve. We’re gonna have to decide soon, when Keith and Ned still have a chance of surviving me. Maybe it’d be better to continue waiting for help. It's just that Zach is in agony, and I’m not handling it well.”





	Evolving

**Author's Note:**

  * For [geewhizmo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/geewhizmo/gifts).



> I wouldn't have written this without geewhizmo's comment on the previous fic inspiring me. So here we are. :D

The shooting on location in a rural area several hours from home went on longer than expected, though at least everyone was happy with the footage. By now it was late and the exhausted crew elected to stay in a hotel. However, the Try Guys had a TV interview to do back in L.A. tomorrow. The four of them piled into a car and headed home.

Moments before everything went to hell, Zach was dozing in the backseat with earbuds in, leaning on a diagonal Keith whose long legs were borrowing some of the space Zach’s could spare. Ned was up front helping Eugene the navigate the dark, isolated roads.

They went through a long tunnel, even darker. 

Then the world started to shake. 

Which of them screamed? All of them? 

*

Good news: that hadn’t been Armageddon. Probably.

Bad news: that had been an earthquake, and the roof of the tunnel had collapsed.

Good news: the car had kept them from being crushed by rubble.

Bad news: they were now trapped in the car _oh shit_.

Using all of his moderately enhanced strength, Eugene managed to crack the driver’s side door open by two inches. That was it. Shattering any windows would risk rubble coming onto the car, with bonus glass. Keith tried to cheer him up by saying the gap would help with their air supply until rescue came, but Eugene just went back to trying to get a signal on his phone. 

When they were certain nobody could get a signal, they agreed to take turns using one guy’s phone extremely sparingly, mainly as a light source, and keep the other three off to conserve the batteries. Because it was dark in here. 

Once everyone was done freaking out over everything else, they took stock of their supplies. Zach had most of a thermos of tea and a still-wrapped King Size candy bar. Keith had a full bottle of water and two leftover sandwiches from their picnic lunch today. Ned had only the dregs of a Coke, but with a decent amount of ice in the cup. Eugene had nothing.

“But I can go twice as long as y’all can without food or water, so everything’s to split three ways, got it? Not four.” Eugene glared everyone else into silence. Everyone knew not to mess with him when you could actively detect a shade of Texan in his voice. “Now turn out the light unless you really need it.”

Zach squirmed, trying to get comfortable in the dark, cramped space while his heart was beating a mile a minute and his back was already seizing up. “People should find us soon, right? They know where we left from, and when, and where we were going. And even though there wasn’t anyone in this tunnel except us, people check out collapsed tunnels after earthquakes. That’s gotta be standard.”

“I might have taken us on a less predictable shortcut,” Ned said, his whole voice a cringe. “I’m sorry.”

“But people are going to find us soon,” Zach said again, as if that would help it become real. He must have sounded more messed up than he thought, because he felt Keith’s hands fumbling for him and let himself be pulled into a loose but comforting hold. 

“We should conserve energy,” Eugene said, with too much calm for it to be entirely real. “Don’t talk too much. Sleep if you can.”

“If we can,” Ned corrected him. 

“I’ll be okay.”

“Bullshit.”

“Leave it, Ned,” Zach interjected. He knew this was Eugene’s way of coping, and right now wasn’t the time to call him out. 

Keith piped up, “I’ve got an empty bottle we can use to piss in, just let me know. And a spare plastic bag for number two. I haven’t had dairy recently. If you have, Zach, I’m afraid we’re going to have to chuck you out of the car before it starts affecting you.”

Faint laughter from all. They knew what Keith was doing - what he always did. If people cursed the dark and some people lit candles, Keith twirled around in a Santa Lucia costume with a candle headdress. 

The guys had stopped earlier for gas and bathrooms and for Zach to do a few stretches, so it wasn’t as horrible as it might have been. It wasn’t fun. Zach had shared a bed with Keith before when the travel budget was tight or accommodations limited, so mentally they were comfortable together, but regardless of circumstances Zach did not find sleeping that pleasant. He was also under enough stress that he wouldn’t even have enjoyed the multi-thousand-dollar Swedish horsehair bed full of cutely sleepy Steven Lim from that episode of Worth It Zach guest-starred in.

During one of the many times Zach woke from his fitful doze, there was now a faint amount of ambient light instead of pitch black. Just enough to see the outline of Eugene with his feet up on the dash and reading a book. Ned was snoring with his seat reclined, and Keith was asleep flopped over much of the backseat and between the two front seats, one arm draped over the miserable ball that was the one and only korndiddy. Zach didn’t say anything, not wanting to wake the others.

In a moment so surreal Zach thought he had to be dreaming, and without looking at Zach, Eugene started softly singing “All of Me”. Zach took the cue and closed his eyes again. Conserving energy.

*

“How much pain are you in, Zach?” Ned asked when they were dividing up “breakfast” rations by phonelight.

“First off, how much pain were you in when we started the drive?” Eugene asked. His arms were folded to prevent anyone from putting food in his hands, the overdramatic bitch.

“Two,” Zach said. He took his tiny bite of the sandwich and candy bar, Keith watching, and handed it on to Ned. “But now…”

“Don’t try to spare our feelings,” Keith said.

“I don’t want you to treat me like a baby.”

Keith said gently, “We can’t help you properly if we don’t know what you need. Would you want Eugene to lie if he was about to start dying from sunlight because he hadn’t fed in too long?”

“Oh what a worrrrld,” Eugene mimed melting like the Wicked Witch of the West.

Deep breath. “My pain is five. I don’t have any medication within reach right now. There’s some in the trunk, but fat lot of good that does.”

“What do nine and ten look like?” Eugene asked, all serious again.

“Nine, I’ll be begging for you to either fix it or kill me. Ten, I wouldn’t be able to form real words anymore.” Zach took a sip of his tea, now lukewarm, and passed it to Keith. “My physiotherapist taught me a meditation I use sometimes. I could teach it to you guys, too. It might help with conserving energy. Like the Thai kids in the cave.”

“They meditated?” Ned asked.

“Yeah, the coach was a former Buddhist monk.” And those kids and the coach all got found and rescued, so why not take a leaf out of their book?

*

They tried to pass the time. They took turns reading Eugene’s book by phone-light. Reading aloud was too thirst-inducing. Ned found a scrap of paper in the glove compartment and turned it into a paper football for them all to flick around. They tried a few other quiet games like rock-paper-scissors and Gay Chicken. The first got boring fast. The second didn’t work at all, because by this point the only lines the Try Guys had with each other involved outright cheating on their actual romantic partners.

They coped in their own individual ways. Ned lapsed into audible religiousness despite not much daily enthusiasm for the church he’d been raised in. Nobody made fun of him, especially given how high a proportion of his muttered prayers weren’t for himself. Eugene pretended a ballpoint pen and two paper clips were on an epic adventure, narrated in whispers. Keith, continuing his Hufflepositivy, tried to massage away Zach’s soreness. It was nice to feel loved, but you can’t massage soreness away from tendon and bone. 

Zach drifted, his mind fuzzy from lack of sleep and medication withdrawal, dealing with too much to try to do anything else.

*

The second night was even worse for Zach, and in the morning he started crying. He was ashamed, and said so, and couldn’t stop, and said so, but he just kept crying, like he hadn’t in years. _Remember the screech and smash and thud and how it cut your throat and you bled and bled -_

“If you need to cry, that’s what you need, that’s okay and we’re here for you,” Keith said soothingly, his hand on Zach’s shoulder. Zach had declined more physical contact than that. Everything hurt, including his brain. 

“You haven’t had your antidepressants either,” Ned said, like he’d just realized this. Maybe it had slipped his mind. Zach didn’t mind people knowing he had mental health issues too - he’d talked about taking antidepressants during that pregnancy diet video, after all - but he talked about them much less.

Eugene said, “I have an idea. It’s not a great idea.”

Zach managed to simmer down. “Go on, don’t mind me.”

“I went back on my SES meds two months ago when we started doing well enough financially, right? Which means I haven’t fed on any of you for at least that long. I have Initial Stage SES, so I’m strong-ish but I’m not super strong. But if I had Intermediate Stage, I would be really strong. Hella strong. I’d be able to clear a way for us out of here.”

Ned said, concerned, “But your meds wouldn’t work anymore and you’d have to go back to drinking blood. More blood than before.”

“If we added one more person to my old donor rotation, that’d be enough,” Eugene said. “Ariel’s not an option, still nursing. Maybe if Becky would be up for it? I’d be okay with telling her if I needed to. I would still eat one normal meal every day and I could still get drunk. Eventually. Higher liquor bills but lower grocery bills.”

“I bet Becky would be up for it, but this would also go on your permanent health and legal records,” Keith said. People with Initial Stage SES could have it with complete anonymity, but those with Intermediate Stage would have it show up on background checks that could affect housing and employment. Eugene would also have small physical changes that people who knew what they were looking for might be able to spot, which opened the door to more discrimination.

“You guys better never fire me, then.” Eugene paused. “It’s, uh, it’s kind of like a vampiric Pokemon evolution. To get strong enough to get through this rubble keeping us trapped here, I’d have to take so much more human blood at once and, like, evolve. We’re gonna have to decide soon, when Keith and Ned still have a chance of surviving me. Maybe it’d be better to continue waiting for help. It's just that Zach is in agony, and I’m not handling it well.”

“Haven’t I been off my meds long enough to help?” Zach asked, trying not to get upset again.

“You got your most recent Humira shot two days ago, and that would poison me,” Eugene said, all matter-of-fact. “But you’re going to have an important job if we decide to do this.”

“Don’t patronize me.”

“I’m not patronizing you.”

“Eugene...”

Eugene snapped, “Zach! If I would do almost anything to keep you from having to cry that hard ever again, that’s my business, okay? Okay? Got it?”

“He’s making the OK sign,” Keith said. Zach couldn’t make much noise now that his face was buried in Keith’s grimy shirt. 

“What does everyone think?” Uncertainty crept into Eugene’s voice. Fear. “Maybe…maybe a vote?”

“Let’s talk about it some more,” Ned said. "My right knee is super unhappy, so that's something I'm factoring in..."

*

[The cellphone camera footage begins with Zach’s face at excessive closeup before zooming out to a better angle. Another phone’s screen provides a measure of illumination]

ZACH: In case this ever needs to be used for something official, I’m Zach Kornfeld, these are my friends, and we are all of sound mind. Except for the whole ‘having been trapped in a car under a bunch of rocks and concrete with limited resources’ messing with our heads. Shout-out to Maggie, who’s probably worried sick. I love you. Also my family and other friends. Everyone’s been looking out for me, but things are getting serious. We spent most of a day deciding on this.

[The camera turns.]

KEITH: I’m Keith Habersberger, and I am giving my full, free consent for my friend Eugene Lee Yang to drink my blood in order to gain the strength to dig us out. I understand that while Eugene believes he will probably not cause permanent damage, there is the possibility he will, due to the volume he needs and my current state. Also, Becky - just in case - I’m so sorry, and I love you more than I could possibly say.

[The camera turns again.]

NED: I’m Edward ‘Ned’ Fulmer, I am giving my consent exactly the way Keith said, for the same reason and with the same reservations. Ariel, my wife, my everything, I…”

EUGENE (unseen): Do you need a second?

NED (breathing shakily): If this doesn’t work out, don’t blame Eugene. He’s giving up something too. Tell Wes that his dad loved him so much that he told the whole wide world every chance he got. Please tell him.

KEITH: Do you need more water, Eugene?

EUGENE (still unseen): Nah. That was just to make sure I’m not totally parched before I do this. 

NED: I’m ready.

[Eugene climbs out of the driver’s seat and straddles Ned’s lap, facing him. He presses his forehead to Ned’s for a moment, whispering something unintelligible but tender. Then he rears back and bares his teeth. A pair of fangs slide out beside his upper canines. He bites down on the side of Ned’s neck, where it meets his shoulder. Eight long seconds pass.]

NED: It’s stopped being painful.

[Ned uses his free hand to rub up and down Eugene’s lower back, as if turning the tables and comforting him instead.]

ZACH (behind camera): Good, that’s good. 

KEITH: Ned’s squeezing my hand. Eugene has a rough idea of how much he can take from Ned, but if Ned’s hand goes completely limp before Eugene stops, we’re going to stop him. Zach’s gonna do the same for me. 

[The feeding continues. Eventually Ned stops moving and his eyes close, but Keith doesn’t say anything. Then Eugene pulls off with an explosive sigh. He repeatedly laves Ned’s wound with his tongue. Ned opens his eyes again.]

EUGENE: Alive?

NED: Ki-na fuzzy. 

[Eugene straightens Ned’s shirt and returns to the driver’s seat. Still holding the camera, Zach places some of what little remains of the candy bar on Ned’s tongue, waits for him to chew and swallow, and tips water in his mouth.]

KEITH: I’m giving Eugene my wrist, because that’s easier given our tight space and also because the bleeding is slower and easier for him to pace himself. It’s just as effective, except it hurts more because the anesthetic doesn’t get into your bloodstream as well.

[Twisting around to face Keith, Eugene takes his left hand and kisses the palm. His fangs emerge again and he sinks them lengthwise into Keith’s wrist.

ZACH: Hold onto me, Keith. You can do this.

KEITH: fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck…

ZACH: You can so do this. 

[Zach’s encouragement continues until the end of footage.]

*

It felt like hours. Keith’s eyes had closed and his hand had gone limp, but Eugene hadn’t stopped. Zach cleared his dry throat. “That’s enough.”

Eugene kept going, hunched over Keith’s arm and rocking back and forth with his eyes squeezed shut.

“Eugene, that’s enough! You could kill him!” Zach tapped him sharply on the shoulder.

Eugene’s eyes flew open, and they flashed yellow-green like a cat’s at night. “ _No._ ”

“Yes!” In a surge of adrenaline, Zach hit him in the head with his thermos. It was nearly empty but still made of metal.

Eugene recoiled, dropping Keith’s arm. Zach was too angry to care and brandished his thermos again. “Now lick him better, dammit.”

“So’thin’ wrong, Gene?” Ned asked woozily. 

Frozen, Eugene blinked. He looked at Ned, then at Zach, then at Keith, and put a hand over his mouth. He removed it again and looked at his fingers in a daze. He flexed them and sharp points popped out. “...I got claws.”

They looked a bit like acrylic nail extensions. Zach was sure they’d be much sharper. “Cool, whatever. Heal Keith and get us out of here.”

Eugene nodded. He was very careful and apologetic with unconscious Keith, inspecting the skin afterwards. Keith had a steady pulse, though slow. Zach bundled him up against shock as best he could.

“I'll call for help once I have signal, then I’ll come back and carry out each of you. Do you think you can hang on and look after them for me? I hate to leave you for last, but you're alert and they aren't.” Without retracting his claws, Eugene turned on his phone and put it in his pocket.

Zach didn't want to be last either. He knew it was the best way, though. “I'll gather up everyone's phones and wallets. We can leave everything else.”

“Good. Let's see what I can do now.” Then Eugene shoved the door open like it was hateful tissue paper. 

***

It turned out that the decision saved at least three of their lives. Eugene might have made it until someone finally got around to excavating a backroads, rarely used tunnel with no known trapped victims when there were so much other devastation. But he told Zach that if he had, he would have left three-quarters of his heart behind.

“Have you visited Ned or Keith yet?” Zach asked, sitting up in his hospital bed and spooning impossibly delicious lime jello into his face. He still had an IV inserted but was cleared for small amounts of bland, soft food. Ned and Keith had needed transfusions. Zach hadn't, but he'd been absolutely sobbing with pain until Maggie showed up and went full protective girlfriend, throwing her weight and Zach's medical records around until they gave him the good drugs. She only agreed to go home to look after Bowie and get some rest once Eugene arrived to keep Zach company.

Eugene shook his head and sat in the chair by Zach's side. He was dressed in slightly androgynous smart casual with a fitted red jacket and slouchy purple beanie combo. “Once the doctors let me go, the cops had questions for me. The video you made was a big help, by the way, thank you, I might have been prosecuted for assault without it. I’ve just got mandatory counseling for three months, and some paperwork to file. I went home, and…” He trailed off, staring at a spot high on the wall across from him. 

“The nurse isn’t due for awhile. You can say what you want.” Zach's mom’s flight wouldn't arrive until tomorrow, but both his parents had insisted on paying the extra fee for a private hospital room so their boy had a better chance at sleeping a few hours. Last night, exhaustion and the good drugs had knocked Zach out. Tonight was going to be trickier, with the drugs scaled back to keep Zach from getting dependent. 

“It was good seeing the dogs again. Becky took care of them while we were missing. Since L.A. didn’t feel the earthquake much, some knicknacks got knocked off my shelves and that was it. But I couldn’t sleep last night. I was so tired I barely had the energy to call my parents and text my sisters, but I couldn’t sleep. I drank all the alcohol I had at home and it felt like super weak light beer.” Eugene rubbed his face with his hands. In much smaller, almost childish voice, he said, “How can I see them? I almost killed them.”

“Um, no, you saved all of us,” Zach said, pointing his spoon for emphasis.

“I was so close to attacking you for stopping me from draining Keith to death!”

“But you didn’t.”

Eugene pursed his lips for a moment. Then he traced a line on his own throat, directly below his chin. It corresponded to Zach’s old scar. “Were you also having flashbacks to your car accident as a kid? Was that why you started crying?”

“It wasn’t the only reason, but it didn’t help,” Zach said.

“You’re strong as hell. I hope you know that.”

Zach smiled and shrugged, feeling himself blushing. “Have some jello. They gave me too much for my shrunken belly.”

“Huh?”

“Nervous pudding. Gotta love it.” He passed the bowl and spoon to Eugene.

Eugene humored him with one nibble before passing it back. “Ned told me that the reason the boxes say not to put fresh pineapple in jello is because the chemicals in fresh pineapple will keep it from gelling. Canned pineapple is okay.”

“Oh, the things they teach you at Yale,” Zach replied. He finished off the rest of the portion while Eugene brooded, then said, “I’m going to go visit them in the morning. Do you want to come with me? Would that help? Maggie told me they both woke up and said they want to thank you.”

“I guess.”

“Sweet.” Zach smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

“Hey, I had a chat with Maggie before she left, and she said it was okay by her for me to ask you something...can I...this is so dumb…”

“It’s okay, Eugene. It really is.”

Staring at the wall again, Eugene said slowly, “I brought an overnight bag. Can I stay here tonight? I’d rather, uh, be in this chair, or on the floor next to you than, than go home.” 

Zach scooted closer to his IV stand. The bed was large enough and Zach was small enough for someone slim to fit, if they were willing to be cozy about it. “Only if you promise not to be in the chair or on the floor. I have full confidence that you’re not after my body, no matter how fuckable and tasty.”

Eugene’s face softened even as he snorted. “You’re lucky I have to be extra nice to you for now.”

Zach woke up several times that night, heart pounding from nightmares, but as far as he could tell Eugene did not. Each time he fell asleep again to Eugene's quiet breathing.

*

Legally, as he had been cleared of any wrongdoing, Eugene had the right for the full details of the incident not to be publicized. The authorities agreed to corroborate the Try Guys’ story that they’d been rescued entirely through outside assistance. 

The friendships between Eugene and Keith and Eugene and Ned healed quickly, once they got it through Eugene’s skull that they weren’t mad at him in the slightest and would always love him unconditionally. The scars on Keith’s wrist and Ned’s neck, however, healed but did not fade. Eugene had bitten them too deeply for too long. Keith wore wide-banded watches or rubber bracelets advertising good causes. Ned upped his quota of collared shirts and polos. Becky taught them how to use concealer for when neither solution was practical and they didn’t feel like lying. 

The video Zach had shot would have been a viral sensation. Obviously, they weren’t going to release it unless Eugene changed his mind one day. Their employees did an amazing job keeping their social media going, scraping together decent content from already shot footage, and handling the press while they were unavailable. Unanimously, they decided to decline major media interviews about the event. They released a two-part Q&A video on their own terms. They made related videos as well, but for variety and their own sanity these were interspersed with normal videos they’d already planned on doing. 

The Try Guys Didn’t Die, Yay

The Try Guys Try Hospital Vlogging

The Try Guys Try Claustrophobia Exposure Therapy

Try Guys Game Time: Guessing Each Other’s Bucket Lists

Chronic Pain and Deadly Peril (Autoimmune Update)

The Try Guys Revisit the Collapsed Tunnel

Thank You for Your Support (music video)

*

Now that sanguinesuriesosis medication was no longer an option for Eugene, he had to provide the State of California with a list of people as his certified consensual primary blood sources. It was okay for Eugene to consensually feed from other people, but the authorities wanted some assurance that he wasn’t going to go on a rampage. Zach, Keith, Ned, Ariel, and Becky provided their names. Eugene had told Maggie by this point, but neither of them were comfortable adding her to the list. At least not yet. Her supporting Zach’s more difficult donor situation was a big help already.

When they’d all signed, Ned said it felt like they were all kinda married to Eugene now.

“I’ve always secretly dreamed of a harem,” Eugene said dryly as he stuffed all the papers into a manila envelope to mail in. The main quartet had dropped by his place to hand him their portion of the paperwork and also play Mario Kart drunk later.

“We won’t tell your super secret date next week that you’ve got so many spouses already,” Keith said, patting Eugene’s back. 

“Oh my god!” Ned said in delight. They’d all been trying to set Eugene up with a date for ages, ever since Eugene had confessed to getting tired of the parade of hookups he’d been metaphorically living on when he’d been too preoccupied for anything more stable. 

Eugene sounded less delighted. “How the hell did you -”

Keith winked. “I will not reveal my sources.”

Eugene put down the envelope and popped his claws out in warning. “I love you all, but it's a first date and if any of you scare him off, I swear…”

“You’re plenty scary on your own,” Zach said, grinning. He placed a bottle of vodka on the dining table for Eugene’s sole consumption tonight, since his already-high alcohol tolerance had gone through the roof. He opened a second bottle and poured three shots. Each of the regular humans took one. “A toast to our plasmavore-type pokemon pal, Eugene!”

“And to Trainer Zach,” Eugene said, raising his bottle. 

For that, Zach didn’t throw a single shell at him during the game that night.

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a video of a drunk Eugene singing "All of Me" to his dogs and had to include a reference. I think the lyrics suit this series, too, even if it's not a romance-focused 'verse.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think! I require no blood, just comments. ;)


End file.
